12 July 2008

The BNP's bad news week

Any pretence that the British National Party is anything other than a pale copy of the Nazi party it strenuously claims not to be ended with the pre-ordained expulsion of Roger Robertson (previous post), campaign manager for Councillor Colin Auty's doomed leadership bid.

Reflecting the attitude of the BNP to all normal concepts of justice, Robertson was told by the party that he would be expelled even before the rigged disciplinary tribunal set up to "try" him had met. He told the Hampshire Fleet News: "I’d already received an email previous to the tribunal saying I was going to be expelled from the party. The interesting thing is that I don’t feel at all disappointed that I’ve been expelled. The fact is that myself and many other like-minded people are being let down by the leader [Nick Griffin] and his sycophant coterie. He surrounds himself with yes men and people who simply obey his orders."

The online Get Hampshire website, reporting the story of local man Robertson's expulsion, included quotes from a widely circulated email believed by many to have been authored by the BNP's anti-semitic dope-smoking "legal advisor" Lee Barnes, which said: "Anyone who has already signed or is thinking of signing the nomination forms for Colin Auty will be suspended from party membership pending an internal disciplinary tribunal where members will be tried for conspiracy and treason. Those found guilty will be expelled from the party and proscribed for life."

As this fits in perfectly with public statements previously made by both Nick Griffin and Lee Barnes few saw any reason to doubt the email's authenticity, but Barnes - a known liar and manufacturer of numerous libels - sought to deny that the words were his, and threatened Get Hampshire with a libel suit if the statements attributed to him remained.

The threat was made by email and was as hollow as a previous threat made against the author of this article and the Lancaster Unity website, but Get Hampshire caved in and removed the entire article - giving Barnes one of the few (and undeserved) victories he has ever enjoyed.

In the meantime, Barnes was on the Nazi Stormfront in his Walk Towards The Light persona, saying: "Trying to get members to break away and form a splinter party, will get anyone kicked out of any political party."

As Robertson had not attempted to do this, and as he was never charged with doing so, Barnes was, as usual, lying - and rather confirming suspicions that he was indeed the author of the disputed email.

In the same Stormfront thread, Griffin mouthpiece Purging The Droid promised a purge of Griffin's opponents to come: "Leave the door open on your way out Mr. Todger [Robertson], there are others following not far behind you."

Robertson's expulsion was quickly followed by Colin Auty's resignation from the BNP and the announcement that he is to stand down as a Kirklees councillor.

From the moment Auty's intention to stand against Griffin for the BNP leadership was announced the Griffinite party machine swung into action to demean and belittle one of its most prominent councillors, and made barely veiled threats against those - such as Roger Robertson - who supported the challenge. "One official described me as a joke candidate," Auty told the Yorkshire Post. "It might sound funny coming from a BNP member, but I believe in democracy. The process was certainly not democratic."

The only real surprise is that Auty took so long to make the discovery.

It is evident that the BNP leadership, though loathing Auty, feared the damage he could do as a loose cannon outside the party, and it appears that last minute attempts were made to keep him on board, not least by Freedom editor Martin Wingfield.

Inexplicably, Wingfield opened a blog post with a nonsensical piece on how he sat down on Wednesday night with a glass of wine and listened to part-time musician Auty's racist "Savile Town" song three or four times. "Colin Auty is a brilliant nationalist musician and, as someone else in the business of winning people over to our cause, I know just what a potent message there is in his songs. Great stuff Colin, well done."

The cooing and billing had little effect, as by then Auty had made his decision.

Martin Wingfield is the author of the most meaningless spin-phrase ever invented by the Griffinites. "The BNP's quiet revolution" handily damps down electoral expectations while simultaneously conning BNP members into believing they are enjoying steady success, when, as the last round of local elections clearly indicated, the BNP enjoyed stagnation, steep reverse and very little by way of success.

Last Thursday's local by-election results were so appalling for the BNP that Wingfield could barely bring himself to comment on them, instead focussing on a short article appearing in the obscure Wiltshire Gazette & Herald newspaper, "Voters turn out in force to reject BNP", which was, according to Wingfield, a "shocking piece of journalism".

Not quite as shocking as the loss of one third of the BNP's vote in Wigan West, the loss of half of its vote in Kirklees Dalton, or the derisory 37 votes (1.4%) "achieved" by the party in Redbridge Cranbrook.

Cranbrook candidate Anthony Young whined afterwards, "If you were to ask me why we bothered to fight this time round I would have to reply that trying to understand what my party's leadership is thinking is like trying to read the mind of God", which drew the comment from BNP deputy-leader Simon Darby, "I would suggest that he won't be standing again."

Always quick to attribute the BNP's alleged successes to the leadership of Nick Griffin, the Griffinite cheerleaders were - as ever when bad news hits the party - notably reticent in coupling his name with these disasters.

In the space of a single week, then, the British National Party had a kangaroo court expel a well-known member on utterly bogus charges, seen one of its best-known councillors leave the party, and watched its vote plummet in the three by-elections it fought. Its only "victory" was that of the demented Lee Barnes in having a barely-read internet story taken down from a website.

Such is the BNP's "quiet revolution". Such is success, Nick Griffin style.

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